HISTORY OF WOODROW WILSON HIGH SCHOOL

Page 2

Woodrow Wilson High SchoolOrigin and Development, 1917-1975

By LURA OPAL CLAY

This history of WWHS was written by long-time teacher Lura Clay. It appeared as part of
a booklet published in 1976 by the Raleigh County Association of Retired School Employees.

INTRODUCTION

Since February, 1975, my life has been devoted to fulfilling the assignment given to
me by Miss Margaret Sullivan, President of Raleigh County Association of Retired
School Employees, to write a short history of Woodrow Wilson High School as part of
a collection of similar writings to honor the Bicentennial of the United States of
America. Accepting the opportunity with enthusiasm, I have learned that the task was
larger than my abilities, though not impossible because of the interest of my fellow
teachers and my former students, interested and kind in helping me.

Now that the time of writing "The End" has come, I am not satisfied but I am
content, for this has truly been a labor of love. My hope is that no one will find
glaring mistakes, and that all who read will overlook human errors. Please lay the
blame on the author, not on those who answered questions for me.

My gratitude especially goes to these friends who have supported me with their
deepest concern and strongest will power: Miss Ethel Keyser, Mr. C. G. Peregoy, Miss
Ruth Larew and Mrs. J. R. Beaty. All others named on the list of sources took their
time to find facts or recalled events to add to my information. My thanks go to those
and many others not named.

From February to August I have lived my life as a student and a teacher over again.

I was a grade student in Beckley Seminary, passed through the upper grades, high
school and normal training course in Beckley Institute, and except for the years I was
in college, or three years teaching in other places, I taught in Beckley High School or
Woodrow Wilson High School for my full teaching career. Living in a dream world of
the rosy past, forgetting all unpleasantness, and rejoicing in the wonderful people who
were once my students, I have truly appreciated and enjoyed my seventy-eighth
summer performing my task.

Lura Opal Clay

The High School In Beckley

The United States Commissioner of Education made a
survey of the educational systems of the one hundred
sixty largest cities of the country in 1901. One hundred
forty-three superintendents of city schools responded to
the request. The high school figures in the report are of
interest in this history. The reader will not be surprised to
learn that Boston, Massachusetts, with its fine private
academies and other tuition-collecting preparatory schools
established the first Public High School with a two to
four years' course of study, but the date is surprising - 1821. [1]

Between the Civil War period of 1860-1865 and the
turn of the century, 1900, the high schools in the entire
United States totalled 3,007. By 1902, the number of
public high schools with definite courses of study
especially for college entrance requirements was 6,318
with 541,130 pupils. [1] In comparison, public high schools
in West Virginia numbered twenty-nine. Thomas C. Miller,
State Superintendent of West Virginia Schools compiled a
report to be distributed at the Jamestown, Virginia,
Exposition in 1907 concerning the schools in the state.
Not every county superintendent of schools made a
report, but perhaps all city superintendents of that era
did. Mr. Miller's book reflected many improvements in
the mountain schools in 1907. [2]

Raleigh County Superintendent at the time of the
study, Mr. W. O. McGinnis, made no report. Raleigh
County was organized as a system of districts of which
there were seven: Town, Trap Hill, Slab Fork, Clear Fork,
Marsh Fork, Shady Spring and Richmond, but there was
no special city system in Beckley.

One type of school that antedated the high school concept in rural areas
was the subscription school. Such a school was held in Beckley in the old
Methodist Church (Southern) located on the corner where Prince Street meets
Kanawha Street. The church, a frame structure painted brown, faced the corner
diagonally and was surrounded by a lawn. The time was about 1880, and the
instructor was probably the minister of the church. Young people came from
as far as three or four miles daily on foot for instruction. It was held
in the summer when such travel was most comfortable with a term of approximately
two months. The courses were largely further study of arithmetic, grammar,
spelling and reading, since the object of the instruction was to prepare
possible teachers for the state examinations for certificates. One sister
[4] and brother attended the school for two terms. The sister became a teacher,
after receiving a first class certificate. She taught until the time of
her marriage in 1890.

From the reports of school superintendents and
principals in West Virginia, one learns that the citizens of
the Mountain State followed the pattern of the country
at large by turning private schools into public high
schools. A second report by United States Commissioner
of Education in 19163 shows figures for public high
schools that show growth, perhaps as a result of turning
private academies into public high schools. The figures
given reveal that out of 13,922 secondary schools, 11,674
were public high schools, open to all students and
supported by tax payers.

The history of Beckley High School is incomplete until
the stories of two private schools are told. Both schools
prepared students for entrance to college.

Among the many photographs that illustrate and
illuminate the 1907 report on West Virginia Education by
Mr. Miller [2] is a fine picture of Beckley Seminary as it
looked at that time. The building, a white frame structure
of two stories with a bell tower rising above, faced
toward the main part of town. The present Institute
School built of red bricks facing Park Avenue occupies
the site of the old building, which was used for
elementary grades of Beckley Institute, and later as a
public elementary school for several years.

Mr. Bernard H. White, the principal of Beckley
Seminary, also furnished an excellent written report on
the school. First, he gave the location in Beckley on the
newly built railroad lines into the city. He praised the
beauty of the surroundings, and named the white pine
trees that grew on the campus. Thirty-seven students
enrolled in 1900 and were taught in rented rooms. But
with the cooperation of leading citizens of the time, the
new building housed nearly four hundred students,
ranging from the first grade through the seminary course
of study. Mr. White's second paragraph told the type of
students, the abilities of the faculty, and the purpose and
atmosphere of the school. He completed his statement
with this important observation: "The school is
unpretentious; it claims only to be a preparatory school
whose work is accredited in all colleges and universities of
this part of the country."2

Mr. Harlow Warren's Beckley USA Vol. I shows an attractive picture,
"Raleigh County's Enrollment at Marshall College" in 1903, which reveals
to one who recognizes nine of the handsome young people in the picture that
their preparatory training was surely given at Beckley Seminary. [5] A list
of the Board of Directors contains names of citizens prominent in the development
of Beckley in the early century and known to the author by reputation. [5]
Many members of Raleigh County Association of Retired School Employees will
be acquainted with one Beckley Seminary faculty member, Mr. W. W. Trent,
who became the last elected State Superintendent of West Virginia Schools.
He was awarded the office for six consecutive terms. Other faculty members
recalled by former appreciative students are Miss Florence Blizzard and
her brother, Homer Blizzard, who taught the third grade and coached the
first uniformed baseball team, [5] Miss Ollie Ogden, Paris I. Lilly, R.
B. Summerfield, and the music teacher, Miss Adeline Bursot.

Beckley Seminary had a short existence, 1900-1907,
but the young people were taught not only school
subjects, but also the appreciation of learning. The former
students who are now among the older citizens of
Beckley recall with pleasure and pride their school days
spent in the school where Mr. White as principal was
respected highly, but was judged gentle and kind to his
students. One little girl remembers after seventy years Mr.
White's talks to the children in which he often quoted a
bit of poetry, such as this:

Look for goodness, look for gladness,
You will find them all the while.
If you bring a smiling visage to the glass,
You'll meet a smile.

Two Christian Church ministers in Raleigh County, the
Reverend G. W. Ogden and the Reverend Ritchie Ware,
who were cognizant of the policy of the national office
of their denomination to establish secondary schools in
areas such as Appalachia, where preparatory schools were
few, set in motion a movement for the Christian Women's
Board of Missions of the Christian Church [33] with
headquarters in Indianapolis to purchase the buildings and
grounds of Beckley Seminary for such a school.
Negotiations were effected, and with the generosity of
Beckley citizens of all churches, Beckley Seminary
became Beckley Institute. Better financed, the Institute
was able to enlarge the work and bring many more
teachers from other states to teach. The new high school
building was constructed of native stone, a favorite
material for public buildings at the time. More members
of the Raleigh County Association of Retired School
Employees will recall Beckley Institute easily.

With Miss Alma Evelyn Moore of Topeka, Kansas, as
principal pro tern, Beckley Institute opened for school in
September, 1907. Mr. E. W. McDiarmid, a professor of
Latin in Bethany College, was sent by the CWBM to be
principal in the late fall of that year. A picture of the
faculty in 1908, a year later, is to be seen in Beckley, U
S A, Vol. I.5 Some teachers remained, others left, and
new people came in.

Many old students have recalled Mrs. Lola B. Pursley
as a favorite. The three Lanier sisters became a part of
Beckley since two of them married Beckley citizens and
made their homes here. Mr. J. A. Sharp became a resident
of this area as an accountant. The principal and his sister,
Miss Ethel McDiarmid, whose father had been president
of Bethany College, left a lasting memory of culture
interpreted academically with their students.

But the person who really affected the lives of those
she taught was Miss Bessie Lanier. She later became
professor of education at Madison College, Harrisonburg,
Virginia. She was a master teacher. Her recent death at an
advanced age left many feeling that a landmark had gone
from their lives.

Younger pupils of the Beckley Institute school
probably recall other teachers as favorites. Miss Winnie
Cook (Mrs. J. O. Freeman) was one of the local teachers
who taught in the school. Her pupils had the fine
privilege of having her as their first grade teacher, the
best-loved of all. Miss Hallie Harper, whose sister, Mrs. H.
E. Phipps (Lessie Harper) became the first woman to be
elected to the Board of Education in Town District, was
another Beckley teacher who served well in Beckley
Institute.

Quoting a favorite saying of the Reverend Ritchie
Ware, who was instrumental in establishing Beckley
Institute in 1907 to prepare students for a college
education as well as to train for other choices, one must
say that the Seminary and the Institute and the Seminary
"served their day and generation".

If error has not been unwittingly made in naming the
members of the Town District Board of Education in
1917, here are their names: Mr. R. T. Thurman,
President, Dr. W. W. Hume and Mr. M. C. Brackman,
Commissioners. Men are elected to office to follow the
desires of their supporters. These men accepted their
responsibility and began negotiations to found a Public
High School in Beckley.

Again, a sale of school building and grounds was made
between the Town District Board of Education and the
Christian Woman's Board of Missions, with headquarters
in Indianapolis, Indiana. The property consisted of twenty
and five-tenths acres on which a stone building used for
high school and a frame building used for elementary
grades were located. One stipulation of the sale was that
the acreage originally donated to Beckley Institute by the
Beaver Land Company, whose representative was Mr.
William MacTaggart, remain in use for school purposes or
revert to the original owners. Figures representing the
price paid for this real estate have not been found by the
writer. At the time of the fire in 1918 when the stone
building was destroyed, the CWBM did not lose anything,
since insurance covered their claims.
Beckley High School, a true Public High School,
opened for classes in the stone building on the land
bought from the Institute school, and the former
elementary school of the Institute was again the scene of
the elementary school, now called Institute. The students
were former students of the Institute plus others from the
area who had not been in the private school. The date
was September, 1917. Memories of two informants have
given the author the names of the faculty: Mr. W. C.
Woodyard, principal; Miss Ethel Keyser, English; Mrs. J.
W. Givens, commercial subjects and French; Miss Anna
Kate Givens, mathematics; Miss Nada Snow (Mrs. Carl
Cook), Latin; Miss Pauline Hauser, home economics; and
Mr. Ashworth, science. Even teachers of the time do not
recall the full faculty.

The work moved smoothly until an unfortunate
disaster struck the school in January, 1918, when the
stone building was completely destroyed by a fire of
unknown origin. Many people suspected arson, for a
faction existed that did not want a free high school at the
tax-payers' expense. Other staid citizens thought the fire
due to a faulty furnace. The demolition of the building
did not stop the classwork. Students [8] in school at that
time are full of memories of attending classes in two
buildings available in the city: First Christian Church,
newly built with classrooms, and the former Deepwater
Building, named for a railroad, but called by students of
the period Red Cross Building, because the work of Red
Cross Volunteers in the building during World War I. It is
now known as Medical Arts Building, located on Heber
Street, a very old stone building near Earwood Street.
Because of the break in the term of school no class was
ready for graduation in 1918.

Classes continued to be held in the two buildings
named until the first commencement and bestowal of
diplomas by Beckley High School on June 25, 1919 to
eleven graduates. The Commencement Program was
presented in the First Christian Church with Principal
Woodyard in charge and Miss Pauline Hauser, Sponsor of
this first class. Mrs. Irby Webb, formerly Miss Clara Mae
Robertson, lent carefully preserved copies of school
articles to the author.

These souvenirs consisted of a newspaper clipping of
Principal Woodyard's announcement of the eleven
graduates as follows:

Lois Hatcher

Julia Winifred Stairs (Mrs. Orliff Smith)

Audra Isabel Ball

Suda Mae Meador (Mrs. Stephen Ginestra)

Loutisha Mae Goad

Helen Mary Kilgore

Lucille Vera Crickmer

Clara Mae Robertson (Mrs. Irby Webb)

Josephine Mae Ellison (Mrs. Paul Lynch)

Nathan Lee Lilly

Nora Lilly (Mrs. Olin Marshall)

Only one boy was in the class for graduation. Another
male student, Clyde Mellon, belonging to the class died
during the school year with the dreaded influenza of the
World War I era.

Mrs. Webb's carefully preserved copy of the
announcements sent by the class for Commencement
reads:

The Senior Class of the
Beckley High School
announces Commencement Exercises
June twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred nineteen
Christian Church

Class Motto: Amor patriae nos ducit, translated for
non-Latin readers says, "Love of country leads them."
The class colors were yellow and white. This event
marked an important step in the development of
appreciation for education in the county seat.

Attention was beginning to be centered on the idea
that a good public high school was essential not only for
the education of the youth of the town but also for the
status of the then budding city that was reflecting a
steady growth in population and in business. A sizable
piece of property on South Kanawha Street was
purchased by the Board of Education from the heirs of
Major James Hereford McGinnis, whose sons and
daughters were prominent Beckley citizens. Native stone
was chosen for the construction of a new high school;
masons and carpenters worked hard and carefully to get
the new building ready for occupancy in September,
1919. The building housed the high school and the
elementary school for the area of the city in which it was
located. The formal opening was September, 1919.

Who were the teachers of the high school? Mr. A. J.
Peters was the principal with a faculty of Miss Eva
Keyser, English; Mrs. J. W. Given, commercial studies and
French; Mrs. Carl Cook, Latin; and Miss Lura Clay,
mathematics, and others whose names have been lost. Mr.'
Peters was truly an organizer and administrator, as later
information will reveal.

Nineteen hundred and twenty marked the first
commencement in the building, which then
accommodated the parents and friends for the program.
Mrs. Carl Cook, sponsor of the class, as shown on a copy
of the Commencement Program [9] for June 8, 1920, had
arranged the following activity: (Roman numerals were
used.)

Of these students, two became excellent teachers in
Woodrow Wilson High School. All were successful in good
careers. One, Clarence Meadows, became the governor of
West Virginia.

The Board of Education listed in the Commencement
Program was made up of E. L. Kidd, M. F. O'Dell, Dr. W.
W. Hume and D. D. Ashworth, Secretary. Mr. Peters was
named Superintendent of Town District Schools.

Principals or superintendents making reports on the
school growth in their towns or counties in Mr. Miller's
book [2] usually gave as the crowning accolade that West
Virginia University accepted their students without
further study or tests. The class of 1920 of Beckley High
School with twenty-two graduates was able to report that
eleven or fifty percent of the class entered colleges of
accredited standing in the fall term that year, and others
entered later without examination or special study. Five
of these entered West Virginia University and received
degrees; two young men chose Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and graduated. One girl enrolled in Marietta
College from which she received her A.B., and two
became graduates of Concord College. One girl went to
Bethany College where her scholastic standing was good.
This early class represented Beckley High School with
good records in their chosen colleges.

Few of Nola Frenise Dalton Smith's thirteen classmates
of the graduating class of nineteen twenty-one could
produce a copy of the invitations sent to friends and
relatives of the happy young people of that year. Mrs.
Smith has favored the writer by sending a xeroxed copy
of her precious memento. [10a] It reads thus:

Class of
Nineteen Twenty-one
Beckley High School
requests your presence at its
Commencement Exercises
Tuesday evening, May 31st
at 8 o'clock
School Auditorium

The second page gives the vital facts, as the earlier
classes did. The class motto - "Not evening, but dawn".
The Class Color - Gold and Black and the Flower -
Black-eyed Susan.

Class Roll

Nola Frenise Dalton

Mary Anne Gatherum

Gladys Davenport

Wanda Trix Hubbard

Grace Lee Davenport

Howard Anderson Kester

Jessie Brash Duncan

Clyde Giles Mankin

Donna Marjorie Dunn

Harry Dixon Pinckney

Elbert Newton Dupuy

Margaret Sullivan

Mary Lois Edmundson

Charlotte Virginia Webb

Friends of these outstanding citizens of this area know
that this too was a history making class of Beckley High
School.

One memory that stands out in the participants'
recollections is of the class play, Mr. Bob, directed ably
by the class sponsor, Miss Eva Keyser. Mrs. Smith recalls
the extra effort made by Miss Keyser to come to the
home of Mrs. Smith, who was the leading lady, and
because of illness missed some practice, to aid her in
getting her part correctly. Nola recalls this kindness with
fondest memory.

A picture lent by Miss Lois Edmundson, another
member of the twenty-one class, shows the seniors and
their junior hosts at a banquet in the old Beckley High
School gymnasium decorated with streamers of crepe
paper. The young people and some faculty members are
seated around a circular table in the background of the
photograph while in the foreground at a round table are
the distinguished guests: Mr. J. M. Reedy, principal; Miss
Eva Keyser, sponsor; Mr. Elbert Newton Dupuy,
president; and Miss Nola Denise Dalton, secretary. A
study of the full picture brings happy memories of good
students, fun-loving but earnest in their work and
ambitious to become the leaders of the morrow, which
they did.

Nineteen hundred twenty-two was the year that Miss
Eva Keyser was elected Raleigh County Superintendent of
Schools. Women were voting then and perhaps were
largely responsible for electing a woman to this high
county office. Without official confirmation, it is believed
that Miss Keyser is the only woman in the state of West
Virginia who received this honor. Women received the
right to vote by a Federal Law which came into effect
August 18, 1920.

Miss Keyser was an efficient and capable
superintendent. One helpful result of her term in office
was the publication of a pamphlet called Directory of
Raleigh County Schools, 1923-1924. It contained
according to the title page "Names of Schools, Teachers,
and Addresses of all the Public Schools of Raleigh
County". The copy in the possession of the writer is
interesting to read, for it contains information of interest
to those at work in the schools in 1923-24. Mr. Clarence
G. Peregoy was principal of the High School at Eccles.

Students of 1975 with their chic new ECHO yearbooks
encased in plastic covers to protect the beautiful white
embossed books, decorated with a dark red flying eagle
whose wing spread is impressive and the title ECHO
printed in matching color would shudder to see the first
Beckley High School yearbook produced by the
graduating class of 1922. This book, appropriately named
PIONEER has decorations of a modified Gothic B in a
wreath of laurel on one side of the title and a matching
'22 in a similar wreath on the other side of the title,
which is placed diagonally on a brown paper cover. The
whole book is tied together with silk-like cords of white
and brown.

The first yearbook [11] honored the first superintendent
of schools, Mr. Andrew J. Peters, using his picture with a
full list of his educational qualifications. This is followed
by a picture of the Beckley High School on a lawn with
no trees facing directly on South Kanawha Street. The
Board of Education of Town District: Mr. S. M. Gilliam,
President, Mr. M. F. O'Dell and Mr. U. S. Dickens,
Commissioners with Mr. C. O. Dunn, Secretary, is shown
next. The next entry is the faculty of both the high
school and the junior high school. Mr. J. M. Reedy,
Principal of Beckley High School; Mr. Benn J. Ferguson,
Principal of Beckley Junior High School, and the teachers
are listed:

Joseph W. Hill

Manual Training

Eula R. Givens

English

Maryland Adams

History and Hygiene

Gatewood Cameron

Normal Training

Roy B. Terry

Science and Athletics

Ruth H. Rogers

Hygiene and Geography

Mary Whitman

Mathematics

Bernice Huggins

Physical Education

George W. Bryson

Science and Mathematics

Mrs. J. W. Givens

Commercial Subjects

Brooke Scott

Latin and English

Doris Calfee

Latin and History

Olive G. Ferguson

History and English

Mrs. Lewis Woods

Librarian (Died during year)

Today, no one would expect to see the picture in the
school annual of all the ministers in town. They are
shown in a group as the faculty in charge of the Bible
Department. These were Rev. W. H. Fogelsong, Rev.
Grover J. Johnson, Rev. J. L. Lineweaver, Rev. Father
Holzmer, Rev. Gerald. Culberson and Rev. B. Lacy Hoge.
Since assembly was held each day with a devotional, it is
believed that their teaching was given at that time.
Memory does not bring to mind an actual classroom
situation.

As one enters the building today, one may not find
the room arrangement is the same, for changes have
occurred over the decades. In 1921-22 the two rooms just
inside the main entrance of either side of the hall were on
the left, the principal's office, and on the right hand, the
library. Perhaps it was the very next year that the library
was moved to a larger room at the head of the right-hand
staircase, the second floor. No room in the building was
properly sized or shaped for a high school library. Miss
Brilla Mae Lloyd was the next librarian after Mrs. Woods'
death.

When the fiftieth year reunion was held in 1972, the
man who had travelled farthest is pictured in the annual,
with seven others on the Annual Staff, Harry Roberts.
The six others of the staff are Ruth Culberson, Eldridge
Hedrick, Howard Fisher, Wiley Bolen, Inez Smith, Ray
Smith and Marie Martin. But they are not the full staff,
for the following page shows Palma Meador, Peggy
Phipps, Thelma Melton, J. F. Lilly, Faye Parley, Hallie
Prince and the sponsors: Miss Eula Givens and Mr. A. J.
Peters.

Miss Eula Ruth Givens, a graduate of Lynchburg
College, Lynchburg, Virginia, and a native of Monroe
County, came to Beckley to be with members of her
family who lived here. She first taught for one year at
Mt. Hope High School and became principal of that high
school the next year. Although her work was very
satisfactory, the call to Beckley High School was more
enticing. She became a member of Beckley High School
faculty in nineteen hundred and twenty-one. In the
spring of that school year, 1922, she sponsored the first
yearbook, PIONEER. With the cooperation of the
principal, she was successful in putting together a fine
record of the year's work.

From her first success as advisor for the senior class in sponsoring the
annual, and for coaching the senior play, Mrs. Milliron, as she now became,
was chosen each year as class sponsor for the important task of aiding the
seniors to be the best.

In a recent discussion about activities at the old Woodrow Wilson High
School by three retired teachers of that hub of the universe, Mrs. E. Van
Dorsey said: "Mrs. Milliron's plays were always perfectly coached. They
were chosen strictly as interesting stories suited to amateur high school
players, yet with ideas worthy of reflection. Best of all, they were entertaining."
Mrs. Milliron's yearbooks too evoked praise. Examining several books of
that period, one must concede that while the modern ones may be clever and
sophisticated, the old ones tell the events, present the personalities,
and serve as memory reviews for decades.

Mr. Peregoy in relieving Mrs. Milliron of the responsibility of coaching
senior plays and advising annual staffs gave her a very responsible duty
as official registrar and keeper of school records. She filled the requests
for transcriptions of records for college entrance m t military enlistment
or job application. Her duty required great accuracy. Mrs. Milliron never
took a year off in her term of service in Beckley High School or Woodrow
Wilson High School as did many others, who served equally long periods,
for family duty or an extra year in university to add to their degrees.
From 1921 to her retirement in 1961 Mrs. Roy Milliron was so constant that
it is not strange that students recall her and her teaching first of all.

An addition of a new course of study for post-graduate students who wished
to train for the teaching profession was made a part of the curriculum in
the year 1921 Miss Gatewood Cameron, a graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan
College, came to teach the Normal Course. Her work was popular for two good
reasons: first, many young people were interested in becoming teachers,
and second' Cameron was a well-trained professor of education. She practiced
good teaching as well as she taught the theories. Several former students
have asked that she be a part of the history of the school. Her 1924 class
had a special section in the ECHO for that year. Those completing
Miss Cameron s course became good teachers in the Raleigh County schools;
some of them are leaders in the Raleigh County Association of Retired School
Employees. The 1924 group included Eldora McGraw, Edna Roberts, Basil Houchins,
Lucille Pennington, Rachel Guy, Dare Keyser Alma Davenport, James Trump
and Lacy Beamer. Their class colors were crimson and white; their flower
the Poppy; and their class motto was: "With the ropes of the past, we will
ring the bells of the future "

The course was continued after Miss Cameron's resignation by Miss Ethel
Keyser at the request of Principal R. E. Langfitt. Miss Keyser was equally
successful as many of her students in the Normal Training class can testify.
The yearbook in which her class would be featured was not in the hands of
the author, but Miss Keyser's success can be measured by her other teaching
in the school. Miss Keyser's activities in the development the high school
from the first made her information invaluable to the writer of this account
of the changes, the new ideas, and the plain common sense of a good teacher.
She taught her students to use their own minds, to think for themselves.
Miss Keyser began her teaching in Beckley High School the year the school
opened in 1917, and except for time for study at West Virginia University
and a few years of teaching in Florida, her career was made in the local
school. Her name is recalled not only by the students she had in classes,
but also by anyone who met her or knew her.

Among Miss Keyser's Normal Training Class were Miss
Marie Worley, Miss Alyce Ballou, Mrs. Glida Leslie, Miss
Mamie Marshall, Miss Beulah Snyder, Miss Edith Phipps
and Mrs. Hazel Davenport. Sometime in the fifties,
Mrs. Davenport was chosen by a national family magazine
as the National Teacher of the Year. The honor reflected
upon Miss Keyser as well as on the city of Beckley. Mrs.
Davenport was a fine representative of the county of
Raleigh and the state of West Virginia.

Two new teachers, Mr. Glenn Sallack and Miss Matilda
Hoskins, came in 1924. Each taught special elective
classes in addition to Mr. Sallack's mathematics and Miss
Hoskins' English. Mr. Sallack taught instrumental band
and orchestra, which led to his teaching music for full
time. Miss Hoskins is best remembered by her students
who acted in her many plays as a dramatic coach
and speech teacher. She had two clubs in 1924: Dramatic
and Debating. [12]

Beckley High School Becomes Woodrow Wilson High School

Moving to the newly constructed red brick spacious
building in the fall of 1925 made a deep impression upon
all involved, especially the students who would form the
first graduating class from the new school. It truly
became a new school, for the name Beckley High was left
behind for the junior high school large enough to need all
available space in the stone building up town, and the
new school was formally named in honor of World War I
President Woodrow Wilson.

Nineteen hundred twenty-six became a landmark for
dating events connected with the school, for this was the
year for the first class of Woodrow Wilson to graduate.
New officers for the seniors were chosen: President, Ennis
Bailey; Vice President, Donald Smith; Secretary, Gladys
Walker; and Treasurer, Hans Lineweaver. The editor of
the ECHO was Helen Moss. Mrs. Roy Milliron was chosen
class sponsor. With such a class of excellent students, it is
not surprising to find the 1926 annual which the author
used for this study well-thumbed and used by many in
the nearly fifty years.

Who were the persons behind this move to a new
building? Mr. George H. Colebank was the Superintendent
of Town District Schools, appointed by the Board of
Education made up of Dr. L. A. Martin, President, with
Mr. T. R. Ragland and Mrs. H. E. Phipps, Commissioners.
Mr. R. Emerson Langfitt had served one year as principal
in the old building and was a well-qualified school man,
efficient and exact in all his requirements.

Twenty-one persons made up the faculty. One hundred
and eight seniors were in the graduating class. Without
official figures, one who followed the records for many
years would say that this was the first class to go over the
one hundred mark. Miss Catherine Gallagher, the class
poet, spoke for her fellow students in her poem used in
the 1926 ECHO.

Dear Old Woodrow Wilson High,
We list to your call to the fray;
"Win" is your challenge and we will try
With service our debt to repay. [12]

The author of this rambling account, who can recall
with warm personal feeling nearly every senior in the
1926 list, will attest that these people in their lives, their
well-trained children, and their service to the community
in many ways have well repaid "Dear Old Woodrow" and
the faculty who had the opportunity to teach them.

Miss Porter was the advisor of the annual staff for
1927 with a total of seventy-three graduates that year. A
schedule of Commencement Week reflects the more
leisurely living of that decade.

May 22

Class Sermon

May 23

Literary Contest

May 24

Class Night

May 25

Junior-Senior Banquet

May 26

Junior High School Promotion Exercises

May 27

Senior High School Graduation

All programs listed were held in the Woodrow Wilson
Auditorium. [13]

For the first time the Student Council of WWHS is
given a full page in the annual, with the purpose stated:
"To promote school spirit, to foster the desire for law
and order, to provide opportunities for student
cooperation in the internal government of the school,
to encourage all worthy activities and to better school
conditions in any way possible."

Mr. R. Emerson Langfitt, Principal, was the sponsor of
this organization.

Note in the program for the last week of school the
juniors traditionally gave the seniors a banquet, as begun
in 1921. Later the entertainment was the junior-senior
prom. The story of this change is told in another section
of the history of Woodrow Wilson High School.

Not the first newspaper published by the students of
Woodrow Wilson High School under the guidance of a
teacher, but the first noted in a yearbook was The
Spotlight with eleven newspaper people selected from the
senior class. They were French Williams, Sallie Brubeck,
Hayes Clay, Lillian Thomas, Grace McMillan, Palmer
Parley, Athnel Lilly, Virginia McHugh, Ruby Harold, Jim
Lowe and Eugene Jackson. Headlines showing faintly in
the background of the pictures of these ambitious young
people read: "Steinbicker to Be Coach Next Year",
"P.T.A. Discusses Expenses of School", and "Band
Concert Nets $430 Toward New Uniforms" reflect on
both the economy and the interests of the time. The year
was 1927. [13]

Always, a great choice of clubs awaited the interested
students in the first years in Woodrow Wilson and are still
available to students. In 1927 three language clubs were
open: Latin, French and Spanish. Others were dramatics,
book, commercial, stage crew, travel, debating, police
squad, and odds and ends. Changes came with new
principals, new teachers, and new students who sometimes
asked for permission to form a club, such as the
superstition club. Many old clubs are still active and
popular today.

Each year a new group of students gave life and
vitality to teachers long experienced. The curriculum
grew, the equipment became better, the library flourished,
but the students under the training of good teachers made
the name for Woodrow Wilson High School respected
wherever it was made known.

Another class whose members left lasting memories
was the Class of Twenty-nine with these officers: Elinor
St. Clair, President; Fred Salem, Vice President; Grace
Meadows, Secretary; and Mary Ferguson, Treasurer. Miss
Hettie Robertson was their sponsor. Like her own class of
Nineteen Twenty, Miss Roberton's class selected white
and green for their colors, but their motto showed new
ideas, "Not at the top, but progressing".

An attractive change in naming the outstanding
students in the yearbook for this class is a page of four
photographs showing the most representative of each sex
in two categories, as selected by their fellow classmates.
Most representative girl, Elinor St. Clair; most
representative boy, Walter Rappold; prettiest girl, Thelma
Smith; most handsome boy, Orval Thompson. True, each
class chosen for comment was an outstanding class, but
had the author used the full fifty-two annuals, published
each year, but one, from 1922 to 1975, she would have
needed new adjectives to praise each group in a varied
way.

New clubs were organized in 1928 - 1929. Among them were the Newswriting Club,
Service Club, Nature Study Club, Puzzle Club and Tumbler's Club. Georgia
Kidd, the "Best all-around girl" in G. A. A. and Howard Walls wrote the
section on athletics for this annual. Girls had become more important in
the new Athletic Section of the 1929 yearbook. A new feature was the Intra-Mural
Volley Ball contest; it was fostered by the Girls Athletic Association.
The Champions are shown in the center of a page in the yearbook with twelve
active and pretty girls. [14]

Browsing through the annuals for the twenties, the
thirties, and later is an important and fascinating pastime
for a teacher whose most important life hours were spent
with the young people written about. Retirement came
for the author in 1962, yet these faculty members,
students, and activities are important to one who lived
through this period. The band, the orchestra, the plays,
the parties and the clubs were good. The students were
both active and studious, and the teachers, truly
interested.

Principals of Beckley High School and Woodrow Wilson High School 1917-1975

Mr. W. C. Woodyard was the first principal appointed
for the new public high school by the Town District
Board of Education. He served from the fall of 1917 until
the end of the 1919 school year graduation, or the
graduation of the first class of Beckley High School. He
had some difficulties in the matter of supervising the class
work after the tragic fire of January, 1918. Classes were
held in two city building: First Christian Church and the
Deepwater Building. About five city blocks lie between the
two, making supervision more demanding. Students recall
Mr. Woodyard as agreeable and capable, but nothing
personal is remembered.

Mr. Andrew J. Peters came in the fall of 1919 to take control of the new building
housing the Beckley High School and Central Grade School on South Kanawha
Street. Mr. Peters was both aggressive and efficient. He was later appointed
in 1920 by the Town District Board of Education to be the Superintendent
of Town District Schools. The men who comprised the Board were Mr. E. L.
Kidd, President; Mr. M. F. O'Dell and Dr. W. W. Hume, Commissioners; and
Mr. D. D. Ashworth, Secretary. Mr. Peters held the post of superintendent
until 1922.

In 1921 Mr. J. M. Reedy of Virginia became the
principal of the high school, and Mr. B. J. Ferguson
became the principal of the junior high school. Both were
in the same building, also occupied by the Central
Elementary School. Mr. Peters, as superintendent, was
organizing the school into two separate divisions following
the pattern of the time.

A change in the Board of Education for Town District in 1922 brought about
some changes in the personnel of the school faculty. Mr. John D. Farmer,
who served for only one year, 1922-1923, was appointed by the new Board
of Education, made up of Dr. L. A. Martin, President; Mr. T. R. Ragland
and Mr. R. B. Yaple, Commissioners. The new superintendent of Town District
was Mr. George H. Colebank. An attractive Directory of Beckley Public
Schools, 1923-24 was prepared by Mr. Colebank and printed with the compliments
of the Beckley Printing Company. Both high school and elementary teachers
are listed by schools with home addresses and telephone numbers. [16]

The ECHO for 1926 shows one change in the
membership of the Town District Board of Education.
Mrs. H. E. Phipps, the first woman in Raleigh County to
be elected to the board, replaced Mr. R. B. Yaple as
Commissioner. Mr. R. Emerson Langfitt became the new
principal in 1924; Mr. Colebank remained as
superintendent. Plans were laid by the board and
administrators for building a new high school, and leaving
the old building for the junior high. The wide-awake
board, the wise superintendent, and the knowing principal
placed the building on the land given by the Beaver Land
Company for only school purposes to the CWBM which
had built Beckley Institute high school department on
that land. The building plans were especially well done;
the red brick structure on Park Avenue was ready for
occupancy in the fall of 1925. Mr. Langfitt opened
Woodrow Wilson High School and remained principal
until 1927.

Mr. C. C. Stalnaker assumed the office of principal in
the fall of 1927, but remained for only one year, leaving
in the spring of 1928.

Mr. Z. R. Knotts, a man with the human touch and a
sense of humor, was the next occupant of the principal's
office. He served well for four years, 1928-1932. The son
of the principal, Zeiotes, named for his father, was a
popular and good -student in school. The full name worn
by both father and son was Zeiotes Rufus,17 reflecting
family history. Both junior and senior carried the name
with dignity. Mr. Knotts was pleasant, able and well-liked
by both faculty and students.

The next principal of Woodrow Wilson High School was
Mr. W. R. Fugitt, who moved up from the principalship
of the Beckley Junior High School to the position of
being the Woodrow Wilson High School head, but he was
promoted the very next year to the better position of
superintendent of the Town District Schools. He was
friendly, affable and as proved by his advancements, very
able.

The West Virginia Legislature passed a law making all
schools in West Virginia a part of the County Unit
System. The superintendent now became the head of the
entire county. The date of change was July 1, 1933. Mr.
B. B. Chambers was the County Superintendent at that
time. He remained in office for his full term. After this,
the superintendents were selected by the duly elected
Raleigh County Board of Education who represented the
several regions or districts of the county.

A man who had served two different high schools in
Raleigh County as principal, Mr. C. G. Peregoy, and who
had proved his ability as a capable and reliable principal
in both Eccles and Shady Spring, came to take charge of
Woodrow Wilson High School in 1933. He retired after
thirty-three years in the work where his manner of
conducting the operation of the school made it one of
the excellent first class schools of West Virginia. Under
his principalship the curriculum was greatly enlarged and
much changed. The North Central Association of
Secondary Schools accepted Woodrow Wilson into their
list of accredited schools; improvements in organization,
enlargement of the faculty, fresh ideas tried and succeeded,
and other factors point out reasons for his thirty-three
years of service. The longest any principal had remained
in former times was four years. Mr. Peregoy had the
respect and affection of both faculty and students. He
was known well in state and national education organizations.

Upon Mr. Peregoy's retirement in 1966, Mr. Hubert Jackson, who had assisted
Mr. Peregoy for some years, was appointed principal, the same year, 1966.
Mr. Jackson was the first principal at the new Woodrow Wilson High School
built and occupied in 1969. [JM note: The building was occupied at the start
of the 1967-68 school year.] He was promoted to a post in the county Superintendent's
office in 1974.

The present principal is Mr. Ross A. Hutchens, for
whom the writer has had expressions of appreciation
for his very satisfactory work. Like Mr. Jackson,
Mr. Hutchens came from the Raleigh County school personnel.
Two younger men, both products of Woodrow Wilson High School,
preparatory to their college work, serve as vice principals:
Mr. Emmett Hurt and Mr. Gene Hedrick.

School Activities Related to Learning

History is ... at its deepest level the history of persons,
not the history of ideas. Ideas are empty, totally empty,
until someone vouches for them. Royce Gordon
Gruenler [18]

Without question, the people who made up the whole school of Woodrow Wilson
were the brilliantly clever students, not the faculty; but since the faculty
supervised the activities and were in the great minority - thus more easily
identified, these recorded events and actives w feature the latter. One
must always remember that diamonds are of more interest and value than the
machine that cut them.

"We will have these moments to remember" the poet 19 sang, and some
of these simple ventures into new ways of doing things will be worth remembering
of our high school days over the years from 1917 through me than five decades.
Here the past is recounted by telling what some people did in those years.

The Christmas Pageant involving every teacher and every pupil in Woodrow
Wilson High School m Decker 1931 was sponsored by the principal, Mr. Z.
R. Knotts Several people claimed the honor of finding a color u and tradition-filled
program in a popular magazine for that year that fitted the desire that
each home room could have a part. A young mathematics teacher tall and able
to speak well, carried the major part of Father Time Mr. D W Bryson. He
was the only faculty member acting; the many parts were taken by students,
so that each home room had one scene. For example, the scene from Dickens'
Christmas Carol was the work of a tenth grade room, with one boy.
Harry Comer tall enough to play Bob Cratchit, and one boy, Don Lilly, of
the same age, small enough to play Tiny Tim.

The making of the costumes was the assignment of Ac women teachers who
used the sewing machines of Mr. Esther Dorsey, Home Economics Instructor,
after school. Mr. and Miss Ethel Keyser had shopped together in Charleston
to buy the least expensive cloth forth costumes in the year when the depression
by we strongest. The program was enjoyed by all, for all had some responsibility.
No better school spirit was ever shown even on the athletic field.

The year 1932 was a very significant year in American history from the
viewpoint of many thinkers because it was truly the beginning of a new style
of politics and therefore, a new era in government. Miss Ethel Keyser [20]
of the Social Science Department in Woodrow Wilson High School a very wise
and clever teacher, dreamed up the idea of holding mock National Political
Convene with students carrying our the action of speechmaking administration,
and the setting up of delegates as done in the quadrennial assemblies of
the political parties of the United States. Mr. W. R. Fugitt was the principal
at the time; he heartily approved of the plan and authored he preparation.
Mrs. J. R. Beaty, teaching American History to the juniors, aided Miss Keyser,
whose social science pupils were the seniors, by instructing the juniors
how such conventions were conducted. While the tenth grade students were
not in social science classes in the program of studies then, they were
given responsibilities. The entire school was involved.

Since President Hoover had served only one term of four years and according
to protocol would be nominated without strong opposition by his party, the
Republican, it was decided to make the convention Democratic. Miss Keyser
recalled that posters showing President Hoover and other candidates of the
opposing party were used as decoration with the pictures of the Democratic
candidates. However, the most important news of this mock convention in
May, held in a high school in the West Virginia mountains months before
the real convention, was that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the chosen candidate.
Many, many students took active parts; undoubtedly, present day political
figures in county and state had their first taste of the value, as well
as the excitement, of serving their fellow citizens as legislators, governors,
mayors and other governmental offices.

In the years following, many schools including colleges
and even universities used the imitation convention as a
learning experiment; but in the area served by Woodrow
Wilson High School, this was the original one. A second
trial of this device was used in 1948, when each party
enjoyed its own convention. The students, of that era
benefitted, since many have followed careers in
government, which their predecessors did. Students did
wide research and made diligent preparation.

A similar school learning device was also initiated by
Miss Keyser, aided by Mr. R. V. Martin and Mrs. J. R.
Beaty of the social science department. This was a
dramatization of the United Nations showing the
organization and working with the General Assembly and
other units of that important tool of world government in
action. Everyone in school was involved in staging, acting,
writing scripts, presiding, working as delegates, and, very
important for tenth graders, making signs and posters.
Even the faculty learned from these projects of the social
science teachers.

Every program in school did not involve all pupils - some good programs received
no participation from many who did not wish to take part, or whose schedules
of buses or employment made cooperation impossible - but every pupil did
have opportunity to be members of clubs, special activities, for a club
period of once a week was provided for all. A full report on such enterprises
is not feasible, but it is the hope of the writer to present some facts
about the attempts of the school personnel to give pupils opportunities
for working together, conducting public meetings, and enlarging their social
acquaintance with pupils in school, other than their own classmates.

Mr. Glenn Sallack came to Beckley High School in the
fall of 1925 to teach both mathematics and instrumental
music. He carried a degree of M.E. from Syracuse
University and had studied music in Eastman School of
Music and Ithaca Conservatory of Music in his state, New
York. From that time on through the years, his band and
orchestra afforded the most popular study and extra
curricula activity in school. The school benefitted greatly
from the work of this outstanding music director, both
locally and in state or larger exhibitions and competitions.
Mr. Sallack kindly accepted the task of providing music
for athletics, assemblies, parties and all school activities.
What true admirer of the young people could watch them
in local or other parades without a swelling in the breast
and a feeling of personal pride!

The first senior class to have a senior play was the
class of 1921, whose sponsor. Miss Eva Keyser, coached
the ever popular Mr. Bob, which is recalled with pleasure
by the students who were fortunate enough to be chosen
as characters. The work of the author with the cast was
very infinitesimal, but she recalls the cute persons who
acted for Miss Keyser.

With the coming of Eula Ruth Givens, from her
position as principal in Mt. Hope High School, the seniors
were guaranteed a good drama coach, as well as an expert
guide for assembling a yearbook. During her first year
teaching in the local high school, she produced the play
Professor Pepp with good choices for the actors.
Recently, a former teacher said, "No one could surpass
Eula in selecting her play, in choosing her actors, and in
painstaking coaching to produce an evening's
entertainment for anyone who came to watch the play".
The 1922 yearbook, The Pioneer, proved the wisdom of
the pupils who asked her to be their sponsor year after
year. Mrs. Milliron, her new name, retained her aptitude
for careful work and close attention when, later, Mr.
Peregoy gave her the exacting duty of being Registrar of
Woodrow Wilson High School, which work she continued
until her retirement.

Miss Matilda Hoskins from Virginia was the drama
coach for the year 1924. She coached two plays that
year. One, a most popular play in that time, Peg O' My
Heart by Hartley Manners, in which the title role was
played by Elizabeth Malcolm, now Mrs. Leslie Carter.
Recently, she remarked, "Miss Hoskins was charming;
everything she did fascinated her students". The senior
play that year was Seventeen by Booth Tarkington, which
was coached by Miss Hoskins with Mrs. Milliron's
assistance. Mrs. Milliron was the sponsor of the class of
1924.

During the years 1921-1930, the author of this history
taught in two other schools, stayed at home one year to
help her parents, and completed her master's degree at
New York University. She missed many events and
personalities that would be of interest here. She did not
know the couple who taught in the school, Mr. and Mrs.
Steinbicker, who have been named by former students,
more than once, in the collecting of memories. Mr. Paul
Steinbicker was football and basketball coach for the one
year spent in Woodrow Wilson; Mrs. Steinbicker taught
history and was a much admired drama coach. It
Happened in June was Mrs. Steinbicker's choice of play
for the class of 1929. Well known members of the cast
were Noel Christian, Mary Ann Meador and William
Shanklin. Another play coached the same year by Mrs.
Steinbicker was a favorite Honor Bright. Much time and
effort were required for staging a good play; the
yearbooks usually give a page to the best of the year, and
memories of the actors are full of the exciting experience.
With high school students, "The play's the thing", as they
learned when reading Shakespeare.

Related to the attractive drama coach, Miss Hoskins,
was another sprightly Virginia girl, Garnet Hundley, who
arrived in 1934 to teach English, coach plays and train
pupils in public speaking. The juniors in English eleven
read Oliver Goldsmith's ever popular play, She Stoops to
Conquer. The junior English classes were taught by Miss
Hundley and Miss Clay. The two, working together,
selected the cast from the ten groups of students. The
actors were Ross Romine, Anthony Sparacino, William
Watts, John Larew, Betsy Herring, Louise Williams and
Edith Frazier.

The unusual SENIOR ECHO for 1935 carries pictures
of the players wearing eighteenth century costumes with
silk breeches, bonnets, wigs and buckled shoes. At least
the two teachers had a wonderful experience.

Mrs. Milliron and Miss Hundley staged the senior play
for 1935, Suicide Specialist, with some of the actors and
other talented people: Annabelle Keyser, Betty Jordan,
Bob McCullough, Tony Sparacino, John Larew, Betsy
Herring, Bill Ford and Thelma Vannoy. Sweetened by
memory, these two plays are recalled with satisfaction.

Limited by access only to a cross section of the
yearbooks put out for senior classes from 1922 to 1975,
the author attempts to list plays, usually senior
productions, over forty years:

Date

Title

Coach

1921

Mr. Bob

Miss Eva Keyser

1922

Professor Pepp

Miss Eula Givens

1924

The Hoodoo

Mrs. Roy Milliron

1926

It Happened in June

Mrs. Roy Milliron

1927

Seventeen

Miss M. Hoskins

1929

Honor Bright

Mrs. Steinbicker

1935

She Stoops to Conquer

Miss Hundley

1935

Suicide Specialist

Mrs. Milliron

1949

Arsenic and Old Lace

John Saunders

1951

Quiet Summer

Mrs. Mary Vass

1951

Dear Ruth

Miss A. Saunders

1955

Our Town

Mrs. Mary Vass

1962

Onions in the Stew

Julian Williams

1962

The Death and Lifeof Larry Benson

Mrs. Vass

Varied programs, other than dramas, were presented by the students of the
high school under the guidance of such teachers as music, health, and public
speaking for many young people to take part in and for the entertainment
of others. Mr. Sallack's musical programs were always well attended by pupils
and by the public. Mrs. Cary McClure's choral presentations were not only
presented in the school auditorium, but were given, by request, for groups
and organizations in the city. Seventeen, a musical version of the
play, was a special production of her vocal students. The writer recalls
hearing the choruses singing at the church she attends, where Mrs. McClure
and her pupils were invited back many times. Mr. Sallack's variety programs,
including both music and comedy, were popular with students and audiences.
In all programs presented for the public, the pupils were learning through
the activity.

Special Activities and Duties Assigned To Twelfth Grade Home Room Teachers

Assignments for necessary special duties and
responsibilities were given to any and all home room
teachers of the three years: Sophomore, tenth grade;
Junior, eleventh grade; and Senior, twelfth grade, but
since the writer of this tale was a senior home teacher for
more than twenty years, she knows the senior activities
best and will try to present them.

Commencement was the high watermark of
assignments, but work was done during the year besides
the regular home room duty of keeping the attendance
and scholastic records of the thirty to forty-five pupils
assigned, explaining school requirements, making
announcements, and advising pupils when possible.

Principal C. G. Peregoy should receive high rating for
his ability to select the person best suited for any extra
curricular work. He understood people and could assess
their capacities.

Miss Lura Clay's assignment of arranging for the annual
Senior-Football party early in the month of December
was the first event on the calendar of senior activities.
Seniors, with the supervision and cooperation of senior
home room teachers, decorated the gymnasium for the
party, after plans were decided upon by committees.
Always, the decorations added to the pleasure of the
party; sometimes the decorations were original and
entertaining. Bernard Sax, artistic member of twelve C,
Miss Clay's home room, made a mural, which was hung
on the walls for study and inspection, of cartoon
likenesses of the football players and coaches. Brown
wrapping paper and crayons were the materials used. The
likenesses were quickly recognized, for Bernard was good
at drawing; he permitted each player to cut his picture
from the line to take home. Perhaps Bernard had some
help from other students, but it was his idea and his
production. Those who recall the pictures give Bernard
full credit for the amusing cartoons. Decorations always
gave a party atmosphere; pupils labored hard to get new
ways of setting the scene.

Also, two other teachers with their students were
responsible for making this a good party. Mrs. Harry
Watkins, Home Economics Department, always prepared
the table from which refreshments were served with the
aid of volunteer helpers from her classes. The tables and
the refreshments permitted all to judge the hostess ability
of the girls, who afterward cleaned the kitchen
laboratory. Mrs. Watkins did not consider her work for
the evening done until all girls had safe ways to get home.
In fact, this dedicated teacher would take girls home,
even long distances, if no transportation had been
provided. Miss Clay recalls going with Mrs. Watkins on
these trips. One evening, the teachers took a girl to her
home in the Stanaford area and took another girl to her
home near Glen White. Mrs. Watkins' care for her girls is
still appreciated by those who benefitted.

The other "Old Faithful", in his own way, was Mr.
Glenn Sallack. He was always interested and ready to
direct his popular music band in a full evening's
entertainment. He was pleased to be asked for special
requests. Mr. Sallack considered this just a part of his
teaching. Thanks and appreciation for his willingness to
make the Annual Senior-Football party one to be
remembered by the young people who were the party
makers.

In February, the Sophomores held a party for their
class alone, under the supervision of the Tenth Grade
Home Room Teachers. Originally begun in 1923 by Miss
Ethel Keyser who was their sponsor, it was a costume
party with the costumes of the George Washington era.
Parents cooperated by devising excellent outfits that
helped to make the evening a replica of 1796. Later
changed were made, but stories are still told of wigs, blue
coats, and lace that made the girls and boys know what
dressing was like in the Colonial Days. Perhaps the same
parties are no longer in the mode, but fun and fellowship
came from these events.

The biggest party of the year was the Junior-Senior
Prom, when the juniors entertained their rivals, the
seniors. Again, Mrs. Watkins was in charge of refreshments
and Mr. Sallack furnished the music. The time for this
last party of the year was set during the last weeks of the
year, "a good time to remember." Juniors and their home
room teachers planned each prom to be better than any
before. Planning the decorations and getting the clothes
to wear were central interests for the students involved.

A Senior custom that died out before 1962 was the
Annual Senior Picnic. After Mrs. Betty Jarrell came to
teach in Woodrow Wilson, she was given the duty of
getting ready for this social affair. It was usually held in
the gymnasium where games and contests were the
entertainment, but there were no trees, grass, lake or the
great out-doors. In the early thirties, the principal and
teachers took the seniors by bus to interesting places,
such as Shawnee Lake in Mercer County. The classes were
smaller and more easily transported and catered to.

An unusual picnic was a beef barbecue in 1937. Miss
Clay was class sponsor. Mr. Harvey Cook, grandfather of
three students who were graduating that year, gave a beef
for a class barbecue on the campus. The police of the city
prepared the beef in a wooded ravine or hollow on the
campus facing the building. Trees and grass with ants,
insects and other picnic furnishings were there too. The
contour of that area has been greatly changed by
bulldozing the slopes and making a playing ground for
baseball. Mr. Peregoy assumed the full responsibility for
the picnic. All declared it the best ever.

Mr. Peregoy warned the writer of this story that not
all senior teachers were given these special duties, such as
are told in this history. Often their classroom teaching
was very heavy with outside supervision for students;
extra duties in the management of the school also took
much extra time. This word of explanation is offered to
teachers whose opportunity for these special tasks did not
materialize.

One teacher, whose home room was usually a tenth grade group, was given the
responsibility of flowers for the stage at Commencement time. She was both
wise and artistic; the flowers were always in place. Early in her days of
this duty, Mrs. L. T. Durrance received some gorgeous rhododendron blooms
from a mother, and her son, a member of the graduating class. Mrs. Durrance
was pleased to have the gift, and with her good taste and skill, made a
fine arrangement of the great blooms for the stage. Many teachers recall
the bouquets that Mrs. Grace Smith and her son, Mayo, brought. Mrs. Smith's
sons, daughters and grandsons have added distinction to the list of graduates
of Woodrow Wilson.

Mrs. Robert Thomson, a senior home room teacher of experience, was asked
by Mr. Peregoy to relieve Mrs. Milliron of the work of supervising the school
yearbook in 1950. From this year until her retirement, she fulfilled this
obligation. Mrs. Thomson was also appointed Guidance Counselor for the Senior
Class after Guidance Counseling became an important part of the school program.
A graduate of Beckley High School, she, like other former graduates, came
back to contribute her knowledge and skill to her own school.

Miss Jean Porter and Miss Elizabeth Stephenson were
in charge of checking the long, long lines of graduates to
insure that each person knew his place in order to avoid
mistakes in the awarding of diplomas. Other teachers also
aided in practice for the great hour of graduation. This
practice for the marching of the seniors came at periods
when the teachers in charge were free of classes of
seniors. But both Miss Porter and Miss Stephenson carried
other duties as senior home room teachers.

Miss Stephenson was coach for many seasons of the two important speakers for
commencement: the Valedictorian and the Salutatorian. Both she and Miss
Porter supervised the writing of the original speeches by the two winners
of these distinctions. Mr. Peregoy once said of Miss Stephenson's ability
as a speech coach: "She can take a student who seems to have little or no
talent for public speaking, and make him into a speaker easy to listen to."
She was greatly missed when she decided to return to her home town, Summersville,
to complete her teaching years.

Miss Porter had the full responsibility of helping the seniors prepare
for "Kid Day". Before her supervision, the program was often tedious and
tiresome, as well as loud and unorganized. She encouraged the students to
work to make the day pleasing to themselves as well as to the faculty. She
trained them in stunts and sketches for an assembly program. Troublesome
disciplinary problems disappeared, for nearly every senior was too busy
thinking of his lines or actions for the program, to try childish tricks
in classes. The costumes, too, improved in following the dressing of children,
rather than looking like tramps or cutthroats. Scenes come back to the writer's
mind of happy school days or fun on the playground as enacted by big people
being primary kids again. The 1942 program is especially memorable, for
the young men dressed in kid clothes and playing on a seesaw or eating an
all-day sucker, were to be the service men of the United States for World
War II, already in progress. The contrast between their boisterous fun and
the uncertainty of their future caused older teachers to weep, rather than
to laugh, at their monkeyshines.

Mrs. Lee Summers was the sponsor of the class which
published the 1956 ECHO a dedication to Miss Porter.
Miss Porter's dedication reflects the high ideals of both
teachers. After the formal note of dedication, a quotation
from the Bible is used:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven." Matthew 5:6 [21]

It will be of some interest to the reader to know that
both Miss Porter and Mrs. Summers, taught elective
courses in Bible to students who chose the subject.

The students of Mrs. Mary Vass, who had benefitted
by her training, dedicated the 1951 ECHO to her in these
words:

"To Mary Vass we the class of 1951 wish to dedicate
this annual.... For many years she has given her time
devotedly to guide the senior classes at Woodrow
Wilson in their dramatic productions. ....... We humbly
thank Mrs. Vass with honor, respect, and
appreciation." [22]

The class sponsor that year was Mrs. Juanita Sterne
Perkowski. Mrs. Vass followed Miss Stephenson in
preparing students for their senior commencement
program. She not only readied the honored Valedictorian
and Salutatorian as her predecessor had done, she went
further. By the time of her period of teaching in
Woodrow Wilson, the custom of asking a noted or
prominent citizen to address the graduates was changed to
having the graduates themselves prepare an original
program of some variety based upon a theme of interest
to the students. Mrs. Vass has a talent for such
programs; with her guidance and help, the seniors
presented their ideas and knowledge for the enjoyment of
the parents and the satisfaction of doing their own work.
From the faculty section of seats on the stage, one could
sense the pleasure the spectator seniors felt in their
classmates' performance.

The most tedious task of a senior home room teacher was having charge
of the ordering of the caps and gowns which were first rented from a service
company. In the thirties, Mrs. J. W. Givens had charge of caring for the
distribution and collection of these costumes. Measures were taken of the
members of the several home rooms and sizes entered on a prepared sheet
for Mrs. Given's use. Two incidents in this annual measurement and fee collecting
job are of interest. When James D. Lilly, Jr. was treasurer of Twelve C,
he assumed full responsibility. He himself, measured the boys and asked
capable girls to do the same for the girls; then he collected the fee and
turned the reports and money in to the proper authorities. The teacher learned
from this to expect the treasurer to do the same in succeeding years. Teachers
learn much from students if their minds are receptive. The second memory
about the gowns concerns a real football player, Buck Donahue. He was tall
with a firm body to match. When he was measured, it was noted that a special
new costume had to be made for him - he was college size.

On the morning after the giving of diplomas, the home room teachers met
with Mrs. Givens to check, sort, and pack the gowns and caps for return
to the company Oh how many tassels from the caps were found missing. But
the caps were returned to the rental company with no explanations. A full
half day was used for this task, but all worked willingly.

After Mrs. Givens retired, Mrs. M. G. Jarrell, a newcomer, was given this
task. By this time, the school had purchased their own gowns to be used
over and over. New garments were ordered each year to have proper sizes.
Mrs. Jarrell made a new arrangement. Men home room teachers of juniors were
assigned to assist the senior teachers on commencement evening to collect
and pack the gowns and caps, with the aid of junior boys. Soon the work
was completed, ready for next year. Now of course the gowns and caps made
of plastic material are purchased by each student, and can be used as he
wishes, for picture taking and personal wishes. Many tasks grow easier as
the world becomes mechanized.

Senior class sponsors were selected by the students when they met to organize
their classes for the final yea. Mr. Peregoy led the pupils to make wise
choices by choosing new people who were free to carry the extra load. One
could name all sponsors only by a close study of the yearbooks from 1922
to the present. The author was limited to the annuals accessible to her
for this record. Many not named, produced splendidly original and impressive
achievements in leading the classes.

Nineteen hundred twenty-four, twenty-six and twenty-seven are dedicated to
the parents of the class of each year Since Miss Jean Porter is named on
the managing staff of the ECHO for twenty-seven and is shown with
the staff at work, but is not credited with being the advisor - and no one
else is - it is assumed that she was the advisor for each book. To both
teachers and pupils who knew Miss Porter, this appreciation of the parents
is characteristic of her thinking.

No annual was made for nineteen hundred thirty-four due to effects of
the severe depression of the time. Instead a special edition of the school
newspaper The Eagle Dispatch, for the seniors was the substitute.
This is the only year since PIONEER 1922 that this has been the practice.
As a result, the seniors of that year regard this as the mark of the unusual
for their group.

The school newspaper, not always called The Eagle
Dispatch, has been part of the school scene for many,
many years. A close study of the history of the
newspapers and their sponsors in both Beckley High
School and Woodrow Wilson would made a good topic
for a term paper. Miss Ethel Keyser was always interested
in a printed paper to circulate to the students, written
and produced by the students. She was truly the first to
begin such a project. Other names have been used, but
the present name was selected soon after the school
moved into the red brick structure on Park Avenue.
Margaret Logan, a student on the early staff, suggested
the title, Eagle Dispatch. Innumerable students and many
teachers have produced the paper year after year. Besides
Miss Keyser, other teachers have been responsible for the
publication. The author is sure of the names of Miss Jean
Porter, Mrs. Lee Summers and Mr. Herbert Kiser. More
attention should be given to this history.

Mrs. Katherine Guy was the sponsor of the 1935 class.
This was a loyal group, and, as far as the writer can
determine, the first class to hold a reunion. They waited
twenty-five years and had a great dinner. Mrs. Guy and
her staff managed to put out an excellent and attractive
small year book which sold to the students for fifty cents
per copy. A member24 of the class first gave the writer
the information, which was confirmed by a faculty
member whose brother was one of the class members.

Mr. Ray Martin, instructor in American History for juniors, was twice selected
by the seniors to sponsor them. Since the two classes were ten years apart,
it is clear he was as popular in nineteen hundred and fifty-nine as he had
been in nineteen hundred and forty-nine. ECHO '49 has an especially
beautiful cover of maroon simulated leather with decoration and lettering
in white. The great capital B in the upper left hand corner, with a flying
eagle coming through the lower section of the letter, is an artistic touch
of symbolism for one who still likes to say Beckley High School.

Mrs. Teresa Gilmore, sponsor of the 1947 class, is
honored by the dedication for that year. She was full of
new ideas. One was that the graduation ceremony be held
on the athletic field to accommodate not only families of
the graduates, but also their friends. The plan was
repeated for 1948 also. Mrs. Ruth Summers had a
ten-year space between her two sponsorships of nineteen
fifty-six and nineteen hundred sixty-six. Mrs. Summers'
style of putting books together shows her experience in
journalism - a superior job.

Many other teachers whom students admired were
honored by dedication of annuals of other years, but
perhaps the most touching dedications found in the books
are the two in which the sympathetic students
remembered their former fellow students who lost their
lives in the enemy fire of World War II. The first of these
lists was in the 1943 annual, which reads:

The 1944 annual was dedicated to the diligent Mrs. Robert Thomson for her
guidance in preparing the yearbook, a reminder of their joys and sorrows
for the students, and for her interest in aiding them in preparing for their
life's work.

In 1945, the feeling that all had not been done in respect for
an in memory of the men, so recently boys in school, now heroes
in their tombs, inspired the class of nineteen and forty-five
to dedicate their yearbook to all former students whose lives
were lost in the Second World War. The full list of names
follows, in alphabetical order, not in time sequence, as the Echo 1945
shows:

Adams, Franklin W.

Adomas, Paul

Allen, Johnny K.

Antonio, Samuel[actual name: Samuel Antonio Interdonato]

Bent, William

Bibb, Thomas

Blaker, Harry, Jr.

Bowers, Bobby

Bostick, Jerold

Burkette, Howard

Bowyer, Herbert A.

Corey, Mitchell

Crozier, Jess A.

Cossu, John

Cernutto, Franklin

Diciuccio, Joe

Earehart, Dillard Gene

Feazelle, Charles

Foote, John

Gates, Laren A., Jr.

Hartley, Jack

Harvey, Donald

Higgenbotham, Paul

Huffman, Jack S.

Hughes, Lamar

Hughes, Thedford

Kinzer, Blaine

Kinzer, C. J.

Kiser, Virgil

Klaus, William P.

Koch, Arthur

Korman, Frank

Larew, Lewis M.

Lilly, Lionel

Massing, James

Mondorf, Harry

Noel, Robert K.

Nolan, James

O'Leary, Patrick

Phipps, Wilmer Lee

Plumley, Paul

Porter, Harold

Rice, George

Rhodes, Woodrow

Rose, Theron

Rogers, Hobart

Samples, Bert

Sheffler, Lew Wallace

Sheppe, Andrew J.

Shockley, Rupert

Stansbury, Charles

Starr, J. G., Jr.

Stover, Howard

Thompson, Eugene

Thompson, James

Thurmond, Martha

Totten, David

Walker, Carl

Wingler, Paul D.

Wiseman, Charles

Special Organizations for WWHS Pupils

Soon after becoming principal of Woodrow Wilson High School, Mr. Peregoy prepared
a handbook for students titled Pupil's Hand Book for Woodrow Wilson High
School Students which contained the "Constitution of the Student Government
of WWHS", adopted by the student body in the school year 1933-34. A student
Service Club had preceded this larger organization. One of the eight aims
of the document was "To promote in all ways the best interest of the
school". [31]

Mr. Peregoy assumed the guidance of this organization
for a period of years until the arrival of Mr. Frank
Herrera to whom Mr. Peregoy assigned the supervision of
the Student Council. A member of the Student Council
was elected by each home room Those elected by their
classmates were required to average C or better. No other
restrictions were imposed. Usually, a very well-liked
person was elected. Two faculty members, not class
sponsors, were representatives. Powers were given the
Council; number three was "The Council shall have the
power to supervise the extra curricular activities of the
school" 31 Each club or organization of the students
must submit a plan for the club, including the
constitution to be adopted. The Student Council thus
supervised the clubs of the school.

Mr. Herrera left Woodrow Wilson to become an instructor in West Virginia University.
Mrs. Wayne Reynolds was appointed the guiding teacher in 1949. She remained
in that post until her untimely death in 1962.

The Visual Education Club organized by Mr. Douglas Schwank to train the
members in operating the various machines for use in the classrooms was
of especial help to teachers The Visual Education Club was a first only
for boys but girls became members and were able to learn the skills. If
a teacher planned to use a firm or film strip, or other visual aids, the
club would schedule their workers who were free at certain hours to set
up the machine, discuss the plans with the teacher, and be ready to show
the educational material. Mr. Schwank knew how to purchase the machines
that would be of the greatest assistance. Oftentimes, the operator working
was a member of the class. Over the years this club operated, the classroom
teacher was assured of adequate scheduling and efficient work.

Another service club, largely made up of girls who
liked to work, was Mrs. George Parker's Usher Club.
These students ushered at each public program of any
type Trained by their sponsor in seating the guests
properly, furnishing them with the printed programs, and
giving them a feeling of being welcome, these girls saved
time and effort of the teachers who were preparing public
performances for patrons. The girls enjoyed their work
and represented their school with their polite service.

Too many pages would be required to list all clubs in Woodrow Wilson,
for the policy of the school was to give opportunities to all pupils to
learn more than textbook for a satisfying education. Learning by doing is
the key to learning what one likes and can make useful.

Dramatic productions had always been a favorite way
of using talents and providing a different way of learning,
from the earliest years of the high school. In 1947, two
teachers who love the stage and enjoy nothing more than
staging a good play, Mrs. Mary Vass and Mrs. Eugenia
McCreery, organized the students interested into a drama
club with national approval, Thespian Troupe Number
754. The work of the actors in this club is centered upon
the Regional Drama Festival, held in this area of West
Virginia at Concord College in the spring of the year. The
rating by qualified judges of the work presented. Superior
or Excellent, gives the play cast the opportunity to take
part in the State Drama Festival at West Virginia
University. Here, the honors are bestowed by judges who
advise the young actors of their good and poor points.
The plays are one-act, to allow time for performance of
all entrants. Woodrow Wilson has never rated lower than
Excellent at either school, and generally has been awarded
the Superior rating.

Mrs. Vass has been assisted by other drama coaches
after Mrs. McCreery resigned; Mr. John Saunders, now
head of Beckley College, was a valuable assistant. Miss
Linda Zorio, the present teacher of drama at the
Stanaford school, joined Mrs. Vass when she first began
teaching. Miss Zorio became the head of the Thespian
Troupe in the school year 1968-69, after Mrs. Vass
resigned. Ferry Boat was the Superior rated play
presented by the Troupe in the spring of 1975. Miss
Zorio says that better than winning the high rating, a rich
reward, is the analysis given each student on his acting by
the experienced college or university professors who judge
the work.

The National Honor Society. Mrs. Millard G. Jarrell, a member of
the committee appointed by the principal, Mr. Peregoy, to consider the value
of establishing a chapter of the National Honor Society, in raising the
scholastic achievements of the students, has kindly furnished a concise
but complete statement on this organization. Her letter is quoted below:

The Woodrow Wilson Chapter was formed in the spring
of 1960. The first officers were elected from the class
of 1961 and included Danny Speilman, President, and
David Hindsley, Vice-President, both of whom went
on to graduate from the United States Military
Academy. A five-member board was named to screen
the candidates and to sponsor the club. The original
members were Wanda Wiseman, Ruth Larew, Douglas
Schwank, Eva Keyser and myself. I served as sponsor
until 1965. One member was replaced each year. There
have been a number of teachers on the board since
that time. [27]

Miss Ruth Larew, who has been of inestimable help to the author,
gave the facts about the National Merit Scholarship Foundation whose
tests are administered to students of Woodrow Wilson High School
each year since the beginning of the enterprise in 1955. Two tests
are given in a year. The first is a qualifying test, which
has been given at Woodrow Wilson recently for the present school year,
1975-1976. Four entrants qualified: Kenley Smith, Eddie Shanks,
Betsy Clay and Linda Knapp. The final tests will be given
later in the year. In the past, the local high school
has shown good results in the first test, but since 1955,
only three finalists from Woodrow Wilson have been named.
They are Thomas Laqueur, Thomas Martin and John William Gray.

Beckley High School Athletics

Coach C. L. Wiseman, called by close friends and dear
enemies, "Preach", gave facts for this very important
report on the athletics of Beckley High School and
Woodrow Wilson High School down to year 1975. A good
picture of the Coach may be enjoyed if one turns to the
1962 Annual near the last page. He is pictured packing up
for the year, assisted by his adoring wife, Wanda, who
supports him in both successes and failures in his team's
games. Mrs. Wiseman is well known as an English teacher
in the school.

The 1922 annual, Pioneer, devoted eleven pages of its
space to the athletic teams and activities. The 1962
yearbook, ECHO, too, uses fifteen of its pages for the
coaches, teams and lettermen of four ball teams:
Football, Basketball, Baseball and Wrestling. Each year
the interest has grown, with more students participating,
more coaches to train the players, and more fans to cheer
them.

The first coach for Beckley High School was Mr. Roy
B. Terry, a graduate of Emory and Henry College, from
North Holston, Virginia. Mr. Douglas Bowers, who is a
graduate of West Virginia Law School, was the second
coach. His picture first appears in the 1927 annual. Mr.
Bowers, a well-known Beckley attorney, recently attended
the fiftieth anniversary at West Virginia University; his
daughter, Lucy, was celebrating her twenty-fifth
anniversary, and his granddaughter was a 1975 graduate
of the university. Mr. Bowers was a good coach. His
players respected him and won honors in their day.

Mr. Paul F. Steinbicker was the coach in 1929. He
stayed for only a year, but is recalled as a good coach. He
had success with the Football Team in the fall of 1928.
Certainly, he had some of the best football players that
Beckley has ever produced. They were darlings not only
of the coach, but of the classroom teachers too. One
teacher said: "I've always thought football players were
strong in muscle, but weak in brain power...but these are
some of my very top students". Mr. Steinbicker's
basketball team was among the best state teams at
Buckhannon Tournament in 1929. However, they were
not state champions.

Mr. Jerome R. Van Meter, a graduate of the University
of Illinois, came to Woodrow Wilson High School as
coach in 1930. He had formerly coached in West Virginia
in, or near, Point Pleasant. He was both efficient and
inspiring in his coaching, for both students and faculty
admired and trusted him. He proved himself worthy of
their confidence. Mr. Van Meter's class teaching was in
the mathematics field, but his greatest contribution was in
preparing his teams for good playing, in fair conflict with
the teams with whom they contested for a win.

Mr. C. Lawrence Wiseman was the next coach to join
the staff; he became Mr. Van Meter's assistant, and they
were together for many years, until Mr. Van Meter
resigned. Mr. Wiseman, a West Virginia native, was trained
at West Virginia Technical School and Peabody College.
Together, these two men helped the Beckley teams to
become champions in varied fields of sport.

Track, wrestling and baseball were added to the teams
of football and basketball, requiring more coaches to
carry the responsibilities. Easily recalled are Clarence
Underwood, Paul Pettry, Victor Peelish, Nelson Bragg,
Don Warden, Kenneth Wheeler, Pete Culicerto and Joel
Hicks. Five of these were formerly Woodrow Wilson
students and players on the teams, making the chances
better for championships. Since the school has been
moved to Stanaford, better facilities for types of sports
not practiced before, invite more boys to become
athletes. Athletics not only give opportunities to play a
game, but are valuable in teaching how to build a good
body and keep it fit.

The author of this rambling narrative knows very little
about athletics, but she had the privilege of teaching some
of these men in her classes, and wished she could have
taught others, for all were men of whom a teacher could
boast. Clarence Underwood was very good-natured, easy
to have as a pupil; Don Warden was a first-class student,
whose conduct reflected good home training and whose
classwork measured his mentality; and Pete Culicerto's
happy disposition and disciplined mind made him a
favorite with his teacher.

Two men, J. R. Van Meter and C. Lawrence Wiseman,
were the coaches most responsible for basketball teams
from 1929 to 1975. Each man, however, served in the
United States Army during the time of World War II.
Their places were held by Clarence Underwood, who also
served in the conflict, and by Kenneth Hunt, who was
head coach during this unsettled war period.

Mr. C. Lawrence Wiseman has graciously provided the
items in the following table, showing the outcomes of the
final game in each state tournament in which Beckley,
Woodrow Wilson High School, has won the championship
in Basketball.

Basketball Tournament Games

(Final Game Each Year)

Date

Beckley

Opposing Team

Score

1946

40

Stonewall Jackson

37

1947

62

Charleston

54

1952

53

West Fairmont

52

1953

74

Parkersburg

58

1954

84

Mullens

66

1957

82

Charleston

70

1962

71

Weirton

69

1965

69

Williamson

67

1967

75

Charleston

69

Football. Football successes have not been as many has have those for Basketball,
but Beckley has done well, as these figures will show:

1947 - Beckley selected by West Virginia Sports Writers as best or champions

1948 - Again, Beckley Football Team selected as best by West Virginia Sports Writers

1951 - Deciding Game Played: Woodrow Wilson 26 Gary 0

Wrestling.

1952 - Woodrow Wilson High School Team won Championship

This sport is decided by points won by total wrestling by full team.

Heisman, for whom the Heisman Trophy in the Athletic World is named, was a New York City
financier, a former West Virginian. [JM note: This may be untrue.] Only in West Virginia is a Heisman Trophy given for high school
athletes. In 1948, Randall Broyles, Woodrow Wilson student and athlete, excellent
in both areas, added honor to his school by becoming the only recipient in athletics of such an honor in the
fifty-seven years of the history of the public high school in Beckley.

The writer hopes that every coach in athletics for the full life of the school has been
named in this report, for without that area of the school, things would have been prosaic. However,
nothing could have taken place in this area had it not been for the boys who participated. Open any yearbook
and look at the alert faces of the members of the various teams. There you will see the young men
who not only worked as a team in school, but whose lives have been spent in
team work in business, law, medicine, service for country and service as citizens. They
are men of moral character, who have developed and supported the high ideals of American citizenship.

Senior Echo for 1939 is dedicated to the popular faculty member, Coach Jerome Van Meter. Among many good stories
about him is that he selected the FLYING EAGLE as the insignia for all Woodrow Wilson Athletics. The dedication reads as follows:

It is with the highest regard for him as a gentleman and a coach that we dedicate this volume of the Senior Echo
to Jerome Van Meter.

THE MARCHING SONG OF THE FLYING EAGLES

Let's give a cheer for Beckley High

The Eagles are out to do or die,

Let's make the echoes ring,

We never give up; we never give in;

We battle along until we win;

So let us sing, sing, sing.

Now why should we fear a mighty foe?

We do our best and lay them low

To gain the victor's crown.

So set them up for the Eagle Crew,

A band that is hardy, and tried, and true

And ready for renown.

You can't beat the Flying Eagles;

You can't beat the Beckley team;

The Maroon and White will fight, fight, fight

And Beckley will reign supreme.

You can't beat that Beckley spirit

And we're out to win today,

So Hail, Hail, Hail, we'll never fail

Our Eagles are on their way.

So here's to our Beckley High School,

The fairest in all the land.

We'll win the game

And spread the fame

Of Beckley High School's

Blessed name and

Our Flying Eagle Band.

From Senior Echo 1939

Lyrics: Roy Lee Harmon

Music: Glenn Sallack

Inspired by the exciting story of the great Woodrow Wilson AAA Basketball
Champions of 1962, which was told in the "Diamond Jubilee" Edition of the
Beckley Post Herald August 2, 1975, the writer of these facts and
fancies of the school wisely decided to use another memento of her teaching
days. This is a booklet, similar to an earlier one of 1925 cited in this
history, tied with maroon ribbon on white paper printed in maroon ink. The
title reads "Banquet by Woodrow Wilson High School Faculty in Honor of 1962
West Virginia Basketball Champions". The date is April 11, 1962, and the
place is Raleigh County Vocational School Dining Room. The menu is wittily
written as the quarters of a basketball game. The food was both tasty and
substantial, for the people taking courses in cooking and in serving in
restaurants were doing the work, as part of their training.

Mr. Clarence Carte was toastmaster for an informal
entertainment, with Coaches Lawrence Wiseman and Don
Warden speaking. The listing of the team on the program
is in alphabetical order as follows: Bane Sarrett, Captain.
Then come David Barksdale, Roger Burns, Ronnie Cimala,
Rudy Coleman, Pat Fragile, Jerry Gallaher, Buddy
Gravely, Pack Hindsley, David Huffman, Mike Jackson,
Bill Karbonit, Bane Sarrett, Robert Wood, with Mike
Minter and Charles Garten, Managers.

Mr. White, author of the news story cited, gives facts
on the futures of these good players and good students,
whose lives have carried out their possibilities.

In 1962, this team played twenty-six games, lost none,
and won twenty-six games. A record that is not often
matched.

More Memorabilia

The author found among her keepsakes a booklet tied
with green ribbon, printed in green ink, of the dinner
given by the Class of '26 for the Class of'25. The
honored class was the last to graduate in the stone
building as Beckley High School; the hosts became the
first class to graduate in the new Woodrow Wilson High
School. The menu showed dainty food; the program was
typical of the day, ending in a special feature, "Dance of
the Butterflies" by six dainty, pretty junior girls: Frances
Malone, Helen Lloyd, Ruth Holmes, Nena Stuphin,
Manetta Phipps and Carrie Lushbaugh. The officers of
each class are given as follows:

Class of '25

President

Clarence Bibb

Vice President

Eugene Fogelsong

Secretary

Oppie Hedrick

Treasurer

Malcolm Lilly

Sponsor

Mrs. Roy Milliron

Class of '26

President

Dorsey Biggs

Vice President

Ennis Bailey

Secretary

Nena Stuphin

Treasurer

Millard French

Sponsor

Miss Lura Clay

The juniors planned the dinner and program under the
leadership of the good president, Dorsey Biggs; the next
year Ennis Bailey became president. The date of the
dinner was May 27th, 1925, and the place was Beckley
High School.

Throughout America social mores were becoming more
lenient. By 1931 students were asking for a Prom instead
of a formal dinner for entertaining other students. The
class of "Thirty-two", in the new Woodrow Wilson High
School building on Park Avenue, being a very active
group of bright students with Miss Ethel Keyser as
sponsor, defied the rules, and made their celebration the
first Junior-Senior Prom of the school's history. Great
plans were laid, and fascinating results ensued. For the
first time, the gymnasium was completely decorated with
much crepe paper in pastel shades. The entire ceiling was
covered by the paper, woven strip by strip, using pins,
pins, and more pins; then flowers made of the same
lovely shades of paper, with butterflies also of the paper,
were suspended from the iron or steel beams with wires
until the room was like a fairyland garden. Standards of
decoration were set the first time, and for years other
students strove to outdo "Thirty-two". Guests of honor
of this first prom were Mr. W. E. Griffith, President of
the Town District Board of Education and his wife,
adding official approval to the new way of entertaining.

Every junior class that followed vied with the first
group to be original, yet beautiful. Two very different
styles of decoration recalled were very modish; one was in
black and white, when Mrs. Oppie Hedrick was sponsor;
the other was a deep shade of blue, prepared in Mrs. John
Martin's sponsorship (Miss Bille Huddleston).

In 1936, two members of the class of'37, Bill Covey
and Everette Shrewsbury, made a mirror ball, about
twelve or more inches in diameter to hang from the
central point of the ceiling which rotated as the music
rolled and the dancers twirled. The ball was made from
plaster, which the two doctors' sons took from their
fathers' supply, with or without permission. In this
massive, sticky ball, the designers placed small pieces of
mirror. Their material was taken or begged from junior
girls, who, as was the custom of the day, carried small
hand mirrors in their purses for quick touch-ups of their
make-up. The ball added much to the enjoyment, for Mr.
Sallack, with his electrical knowledge, was able to make a
device which caused the ball to rotate. The story is that
the ball was used several years before the point when it
became passe'. The rumor was that another county high
school actually borrowed it for a special event.

Mr. Peregoy acted with foresight when he produced
and published a Pupil's Handbook [31] for the guidance of
students in the high school. The date was in ,the early
thirties. The book contained forty-four pages giving
information on a wide variety of school topics. Some are
"Requirements for Graduation", "The Curricula",
"Marking System", "Building Regulations", "Fire Drills",
"Illness", "Attendance", "Lost and Found", "Honor
Point System", "Student-Government Constitution",
"Football and Basketball Schedules", and quite a few
more to aid the student in understanding his own
responsibility and the purpose of the school.

Students of the thirties, forties and fifties knew well
the person in the office who asked and answered
questions, wrote excuse slips, gave permits and passes, and
in fact, ran the mechanism of the school, Mrs. B. L.
Bostick. She was the stabilizer.

Mrs. Bostick and Mr. Peregoy came as faculty members to WWHS the same year,
1933. She was a teacher of mathematics and science, which she had taught
in Beckley High School. Soon, Mr. Peregoy, with his intuition in judging
teachers, recognized Mrs. Bostick as best suited to act as the manager in
the front office. Although both Mrs. Bostick and Mr. Peregoy had served
as principal of the Eccles High School, they had not taught in any school
at the same time.

In addition to her supervision of attendance, Mrs.
Bostick prepared the monthly reports for the entire
school, based upon the individual reports of all teachers.
She was exact and always accurate. Few were the teachers
who were not asked to revise some figures in their
reports.

Upon Mrs. Bostick's resignation, to return to her old
home in Ohio to continue her teaching career, Mr.
Peregoy appointed Mrs. L. T. Durrance to assume the
duties of the monthly report. Mrs. Durrance, too, was
accurate and painstaking; she had help, since her husband
was a professional accountant and aided her in the
tedious work in numbers and percentages. Mrs. Durrance
did her first teaching in the same Eccles school, under Mrs. Bostick as principal.

If changes did not come, no history would be possible.
In 1957, the Congress of the United States, acting in accord with the
beliefs of the people of the country, passed a significant piece of legislation,
which was duly signed by President Dwight David Eisenhower. It was called
the Anti-Segregation Act and was directly applicable to the school
situation where, for many years, the schools had been established on the
theory of separate, but equal, education for white and black
students. The change affected Woodrow Wilson High School by
the action of three brave, wise, black juniors from Stratton High School,
who enrolled in the white high school as an example of the application
of the new law. These were Francine Mitchell, Vivian Moss and Leonard B. Wright, Jr.
For the first time, the 1958 annual carried the pictures, names and identification
of three black graduates. History was made in Woodrow Wilson High School.

The school on the Stone Coal in Slab Fork District, named for a black educator,
Byrd Prillerman, was burned to the ground in 1960. The superintendent
of Raleigh County Schools, and the board, arranged for the
students to attend schools near their homes. It was necessary
to place the teachers in schools where openings were. That is the reason
Mr. Leonard B. Wright, Sr., came to teach in Woodrow Wilson
High School. He filled his position with dignity and ability.
A remembrance of his work is the sight of his chair, where he sat on hall duty,
surrounded by boys who had arrived from the Vocational School for class.
They were getting Mr. Wright to help them with studies of all types.
He was very busy helping with mathematics, English, or any subject a boy
could be taking. Mr. Wright served his race and the school well until
his retirement.

Growth and Change

The city of Beckley in Town District grew each year,
from the establishment of the public high school in 1917
to the building of a modern high school on the outskirts
of the city in 1967, because the school population was
growing too. When Beckley High School, a stone structure
on South Kanawha Street, was first occupied in the fall
of 1919, there was room for Central Elementary School
for all children, from first year through sixth year, in that
area of town, plus the three years, seventh through ninth
grades for the children in the whole town (especially for
the ninth year) plus the three years of senior high school.
There was no feeling of crowding. Annexes to the main
building were not erected for several years. A small frame
building was placed behind the main building before
1925. However, it was used only by the elementary
classes. But population growth, plus an active interest in
seeing that children had the equal opportunities for
education, made the Board of Education aware that a
new senior high school was needed.

The Board of Education at that time. Dr. L. A. Martin, Mr. T. R. Ragland
and Mrs. H. E. Phipps, advised by the superintendent of schools, Mr. George
H. Colebank, and the principal of the high school, Mr. R. Emerson Langfitt,
as well as many citizens, planned and built the new building on Park Avenue.
This more commodious school building was erected on the land formerly owned
by the CWBM, from whom the first stone building was bought. The building
was planned by the architect for a modern high school of 1925. The name,
Woodrow Wilson High School, chosen by the Board, met the assent of the public.'
The name Beckley High added the word Junior, which was agreeable to both
pupils and townsmen.

The new building on Park Avenue, constructed of red
brick, with the purpose of housing the full senior high
school of Town District, was opened for classes in the fall
of 1925. Some elementary students, an overflow from
Institute School, were also accommodated in the bright,
generously sized rooms. A few classrooms were located in
the basement, but with full daylight lighting. Numbered
1, 2, 3, and 4, these were used principally by the manual
training and instrumental music classes. The main floor
rooms numbered significantly 100, 102, 103, and the like,
were regular classrooms, with the principal's office on the
right, as one entered the main front door. The auditorium
and gymnasium were together. The use of sliding walls or
partitions changed the area from an auditorium to a
sports gymnasium. The seats were used for both types of
entertainment. The library, located on the second floor,
facing the center front of the building, was much larger
than the one in the older building, but there was a fault
which annoyed the Librarians very much. The changing of
classes brought lines of students through the library going
from one side of the building to the other. The
classrooms on this floor were in the 200's. The 1926
ECHO shows the faculty to number twenty-one persons,
including principal and superintendent.

To those who had taught in the old building, the new
one was much roomier, more comfortable, and more
attractive. One student admitted in class, after a few
months of school, that she had just discovered the
stairways at the rear of the building, and could make it to
class on time, for they were not much used. Eventually,
nothing seemed big enough in that building. This brought
changes.

In 1935, it was decided to divide the ninth grade,
leaving the students living in the part of town near the
Kanawha Street building and the students bused into
school from the surrounding areas to continue attending
Beckley Junior High. Students living in the neighborhood
of Woodrow Wilson High School, with bus students
brought in from the areas on that side of town, were
enrolled in the high school. Teachers from the junior
high, and new ones, were added at Woodrow Wilson to
care for the increased number of pupils. Furthermore,
two teachers were assigned to a room, and the day was
lengthened to make two sessions of school each day.

Classes began at seven o'clock in the morning and ran
until twelve thirty, to give the early teacher opportunity
for five full classes, home room period and lunch. The
second teacher came in at the lunch hour to assume the
responsibility for her classes, beginning at one o'clock and
remaining for a day equal to the morning schedule. Since
each room was used by pupils taking the same class, (for
example: ten junior English classes were held in room 110
each day) teachers had access to the teaching materials
provided for the work taught in the room.

What was the problem? Rather, what were the
problems? No place could be provided for a teacher to
work on records, papers, or preparation. Hours were too
long for many bus students. Periods were too short for
the best results for the students. The feeling that classes
lasted only half a day upset the normal study habits that
students and teachers need.

The first relief came to Woodrow Wilson High School
when the town of Sophia built her first high school. At
that time, Sophia was in Town District; her high school
students attended the full four years of the work at
Woodrow Wilson. This was in 1942, a good year for
Sophia residents, as well as to relieve the situation of
overcrowding the local school. In that same year, 1942,
the Board saw fit to enlarge the red brick building on
Park Avenue. Architects had foreseen such a necessity and
had planned well for an addition. The windows at the
ends of both corridors on each floor became doors to
new rooms added. By adding further to the rear corners
on each side of the building, twelve rooms were built. On
the three floors at each end of the building, six rooms
were added, keeping the basic plan of the style. What a
difference it made for all!

Because of the new space in each room, and following
the new thinking in education, libraries were added to
each room. Books were selected to aid in learning the
subject taught in each room. Some space was added to
the main library by moving a wall on the right, as one
entered from the west side, about four feet back. Not
only did it give more seating room, more book room, but
also more room for passing from the west side of the
building to the east. The classroom libraries popularized
the reading of good books, especially in English classes.

Ten years later, in 1952, the need for more classroom
space was again very clear. At this time, the faculty
discussed the needs in more than one faculty meeting.
Notes were made, and the new rooms added followed the
recommendations of the teachers who knew their needs.
Five class rooms, a large band room, and a storage room
for music and band instruments were built. These were
built on the rear, left, where the ground space was
adequate for the extension. The building was prepared for
the next ten years, but new events, in addition to the
growth of the city of Beckley, brought new needs.

The Congress of the United States passed much needed
legislation in 1956, called the Anti-Segregation Act, which
was signed into law by President Eisenhower. The Raleigh
County Board of Education, like such boards across
America, began to plan for changes in the school systems.
A few students, black and white, began attending the high
schools in their neighborhood. This was a voluntary,
individual choice. The Board wisely planned to meet the
needs of the citizens. Stratton High School, formerly for
black students, became a junior high school, and the
former Woodrow Wilson for white students, was
designated Park Junior High School, named for the street
on which it is located. The year was 1967 when the really
new Woodrow Wilson High School, on the Stanaford
Road, northeast of the town, became the high school for
all students in the area who had completed the
requirements for junior high promotion.

The move to the new high school was carried out in
the fall of 1967, under the principalship of Mr. Hubert
Jackson and the superintendency of Mr. Charles Munson.
The Raleigh County Board of Education was composed of
Mr. J. A. Blackburn, President, with Mr. A. Mack
Carpenter, Mr. Virgil Cook and Mr. George B. Chambers.
Because of tradition and reputation, the Board decided to
call the new facility Woodrow Wilson High School.

The first class to graduate in the new high school was
the class of 1968. The first class to have attended the full
three years in the new building was the 1970 group. Five
classes have gone through the ceremony of graduation
since then.

Changes in many areas have been necessary with the
changing times. New teachers, with fresh methods
organization of the school in step with new systems,'
unusual courses of more value in modern life styles and
demands - and ideas and philosophy to meet the late
seventies, make this Woodrow Wilson High School a
challenge to the people of today whose life preparation is
done there.

APPENDIX A - A High School In Trap Hill District

Assigned by a committee in the Raleigh County
Association of Retired School Employees to write the
story of the first high school in Raleigh County, the
writer was amazed and amused by a telephone call to her
friend, Goldie Bostick, to hear that Eccles, in Trap Hill
District, had some high school work in their public school
before 1917, the date that Beckley Institute, a private
school preparing students for college, passed into the
control of Town District Board of Education as a public
high school. A conversation with Mr. D. W. Bryson and a
telephone call to Mr. Sherman Trail, confirmed Mrs. B. L.
Bostick's statement. Mrs. Bostick was the first principal of
the Eccles High School. Calling upon Mr. C. G. Peregoy,
also a former principal of the Eccles School, the writer
learned, from one she considers a fountain of knowledge
and a pool of wisdom, that Eccles truly had a public high
school three years earlier than Beckley's Free or Public
High School.

Mr. Peregoy furnished a written statement, giving the
basic facts. By vote of its citizens, Trap Hill District
added one year of high school studies to both the Eccles
and the Lester schools in 1914. The path was not easy
for a full development of a high school program in the
district, but people who were aware of their young
people's need for further education were able to see the
fruit of their labor and encouragement to that end in
a four-year high school in the year of 1929-1930. The
satisfactory new high school building, with Mr. Barty
Wyatt as principal, in the town of Surveyor, began with a
full faculty and complete curriculum in the fall of 1930.
The dream of the good citizens of having a first class high
school, approved by both the state of West Virginia and
the North Central Association, became a reality.

A full history of the efforts, the elections, and the
discussions and persuasions remains to be told. One can
see a relation between the Trap Hill High School and the
Woodrow Wilson High School in the careers of some of
the best people in each school. So, the writer of this
account of the Beckley High School chose a title for her
history quite different from the assignment, but more
suitable for history.

True, Eccles had the beginnings of a public high school
before the authorities of Town District entered into
negotiations with the owners of Beckley Institute (a four
year high school, whose graduates were admitted without
question to the colleges and universities in the area). In
the early years of this century, the standard of judging
any preparatory school was the freedom of choosing a
college of one's choice for entrance. Today, this is taken
for granted, with new emphasis upon vocational training
or career preparation.

Very soon after these two districts had their public
high schools, the other districts built high schools for
their youth, such as Shady Spring, Slab Fork, Richmond,
Marsh Fork and Clear Fork Districts. [30]

Mrs. Goldie Bostick was also the first president of the
Raleigh County Association of Retired School Employees.
It was organized January 30, 1957, and is still "going
strong". At present, there are about 400 members. Mrs.
Serena Greene Warren is the present president.

The past presidents are as follows:

Mrs. Goldie Bostick

Miss Ethel Keyser

Mrs. Bess Cole

Mr. D. D. Crawford, Jr.

Mrs. Thelma Meador

Mrs. Leslie Carter

Mr. U. S. Akers

Mrs. Sarah Thompson

Mrs. Rachel Williams

Miss Margaret Sullivan

Mrs. Serena G. Warren

APPENDIX B

List of Beckley High or Woodrow Wilson High School
Graduates who returned after college graduation to teach
in their own High School: [26]

Alderman, Pauline

Amato, Angeline

Anderson, Patty (Mrs. Patty Baker)

Argenbright, Juanita (Mrs. Oscar O. Tate)

Bailey, Wilda (Mrs. Bernice Ellison)

Ballengee, Sara (Mrs. J. E. Otto)

Batesole, Thelma

Bowling, Cerena (Mrs. Roland Smith)

Britton, Jeffrey C.

Brubeck, Shields

Carney, Ben

Corona, Sara (Mrs. Lloyd Humphrey)

Crawford, Frances (Mrs. Frederick Martin)

Crews, Walter "Eddie"

Culicerto, Pete

Dunkley, Theresa (Mrs. Theresa Winter)

Ellis, Theron

Farley, Ruth (Mrs. Lee Summers)

Farmer, Madge (Mrs. C. Binford Simms)

File, Lanier (Mrs. W. E. Ratcliffe)

Givens, Jean (Mrs. Wallace Brubeck)

Goss, Ralph

Grygiel, Paul

Haddad, Eunice

Harper, Oliver

Hatcher, Lyle

Harvey, Albertine (Mrs. Albertine Meadows)

Harvey, Juanita (Mrs. Thomas Williamson)

Harvey, Lou Ellen (Mrs. Dix Manning)

Hedrick, Gene

Hedrick, Ruth (Mrs. Lawrence Tully)

Huddleston, Billie (Mrs. John Martin)

Humphrey, Boyd, Jr.

Hurt, Emmette

Jackson, Hubert

Larew, Ruth

Larew, Sarah Anne (Mrs. Donald Rogan)

Lilly, Edna Earle (Mrs. Clark Kessel)

Lilly, Wanda (Mrs. Lawrence Wiseman)

McKinney, Alma (Mrs. J. W. Woods)

Martin, Raymond V.

Maxwell, Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. A. C. Forsythe)

Milam, Gladys

Munson, Charles, Jr.

Peelish, Victor

Ragland, Lucy (Mrs. K. Douglas Bowers)

Rappold, Richard "Rusty"

Robertson, Hettie M. (Mrs. Frederick Bachman)

Rogers, Pearl

Schwank, Douglas

Shanklin, William

Smith, Elsie (Mrs. E. S. Ennis)

Stanley, Mary Emil (Mrs. Mary E. Nuchols)

Sterne, Juanita (Mrs. Charles Perkowski)

Thompson, Garnet

Tosh, John Paul

Trent, Meredith

Underwood, Clarence

Ware, Latane

Ware, William B.

Ward, Helen (Mrs. A. P. Leeber)

Warden, Don

Webber, Patty (Mrs. James Henderson)

Wilfong, Margaret (Mrs. Willis Gunnoe)

Williams, Julian

Williams, Merle (Mrs. Merle Daugherty)

Willis, Robert Kyle

Woods, Lucy (Mrs. Claiborne Carter)

Wray, Ruth (Mrs. John Gray)

Young, Ava Lee (Mrs. Raben Cook)

Zorio, Carla

Sources and References Used for History of Woodrow Wilson High School

1. Baxter Edwin Grant, A History of Education in the United
States, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1914. Chapter XII. p. 170 ff.

Website Notes and Corrections

Please report apparent errors in transcription, which will be corrected,
and any errors in content, which will be listed in this section.

The list of graduates who returned to teach at BHS or WWHS should also have included Robert Young ('57), who taught
at WWHS from 1962 to 1964. (He returned to teach in 1981-89, although this period was after this history was written.)

Paul F. Steinbicker seems to have been the athletic coach in both 1927-28 and 1928-29.